Punto 1.4 Emotion a good choice?

Hi guys!
First of all,thanks to paddleshifter for directing me to this wonderful site.I'm looking for a new car and until yesterday Punto was not in my list.It was only yesterday that I came to know about the 1.4 l Emotion variant of Punto.It's a little out of my budget but no worries if it justifies the price.Volkswagen's Polo comfortline is still a strong contender but the feature list in the Punto is just amazing.But a famous automobile magazine only gave it a 3.5 rating whereas Polo got 4.5 and they say that Punto gearbox is just not good enough.Is it true?I know it's not wise to ask a bunch of Fiat people about the quality of Fiat cars but I expect sincere answers.I'm a bit worried about the ASS too since it's done by the TATA guys.How good a car is Punto when compared to say, a Polo when it comes to driveability and riding comfort?
Regards,
Sanjay

Regarding gearshift, yes Polo has better gearbox, but Punto's gearbox is also pretty good.
Check the A.S.S in your city. There are couple of members from your city so they would tell you more. But, VW's A.S.S is no better. Their cars have some major issues. Search you would find.

Last, test drive both car and decide based on which one you feel more comfortable.

Thanks Ravi.I have a few more doubts.Kindly clear them also.
Most of you guys own the diesel variant and that engine is a very popular one and it must be very good also since many other cars like swift also use it.Do you have any idea about how the 1.4l petrol engine is going to perform?Is it as reliable as the diesel engine that you guys have got?

I've heard that the first 2 gears in the Punto are short and it's in the third gear that it shows it's potential.Wont this be a problem in the city because I will have to shift the gears far too often?Anyways in this particular review http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ande-punto-test-drive-review.html#post1355241 (paragraph below images), they say the petrol engine in second gear has a range from 10 to 80 kph :!:

Engines of fiat are always good and super reliable no matter if it's diesel or petrol.
Yes, first two gears are short but not a problem after you get used to them. They provide very good range for B2B traffic. Gearbox is not the slickest box but it's not the worst either (It does its job as expected)
Punto 1.4 is more refined, more powerful and most importantly have one more cylinder than Polo 1.2 3 cylinder engine.
Best would be to test drive both the cars and then ask your heart which car it wants. Both the car are equally good both have their pluses and minuses.

It was only yesterday that I came to know about the 1.4 l Emotion variant of Punto.It's a little out of my budget but no worries if it justifies the price.Volkswagen's Polo comfortline is still a strong contender but the feature list in the Punto is just amazing.But a famous automobile magazine only gave it a 3.5 rating whereas Polo got 4.5 and they say that Punto gearbox is just not good enough.Is it true?I know it's not wise to ask a bunch of Fiat people about the quality of Fiat cars but I expect sincere answers.I'm a bit worried about the ASS too since it's done by the TATA guys.How good a car is Punto when compared to say, a Polo when it comes to driveability and riding comfort?
Regards,
Sanjay

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Hi Mr Sanjay. Welcome to TFI. First, I would like to say that Punto 1.4 Emotion may come out to be comparatively less than what you feel going by the Ex-showroom price because the insurance+cash discount+4 years warranty and roadside assistance is usually offered for most part of the year by Fiat as part of Fiat First initiative.

Famous magazine? If you ever get to see the Wheelocity or Overdrive (especially Bertrand D'souza from Overdrive) TV episodes, you will find how bias they are. They are just trying to be smart in making money.

Polo & i20 have very smooth gearshifts. You just think and they change on their own into that slot. Such is the smoothness of their shifts : On the other hand, Punto is like most other Indian cars. You need to change the gear with your hand.

Moreover, car magazines usually get new cars or test drive cars. And FIAT cars have a bit harder gearshifts for the initial 2-3 thousand kilometers. Test cars on the other hand are abused to the bottom. That also contributes to a bit exaggerated negative response.

You will find a lot of such small small niggles in every test drive car of all manufacturers (more in TATA-FIAT Test drive cars as these guys do not seem to maintain their test drive cars at all).

Polo vs Punto (Ride comfort and Driveability):
I recommend that you read this thread right from the very first page and especially this page. You can see the post by user "Chetan B G". He is a Polo owner. He says that Punto scores better in terms of ride+handling quality and steering:http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/hatchback ... ack-3.html

He rates creature comfort (features list) of Punto and Polo equal. He says Ground clearance of Polo is better and he says that AC efficiency of Polo is better. These 3 things are not true as we all know. Punto has twice the features as compared to Polo, more ground clearance and AC efficiency of diesel variant is equal whereas the petrol variants of Punto/Linea now come with upgraded motor and condenser etc.

Interior quality of Punto/Linea has improved a lot and the plastics is at par with VW and Skodas although there are a few rough misaligned misfits at few places. See the pic below. Do you really think that this makes the interiors awful? Most of these places are hard to notice areas.
[attachment=0:1dfb16c3]IMAGE_200.jpg[/attachment:1dfb16c3]

May be you should check this thread once - viewtopic.php?f=62&t=494
Last, test drive both car and decide based on which one you feel more comfortable.

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@Mr Ravi- Old memories revisited. Remember that guy and how he visited here to disturb our peace? :hit
@Mr Sanjay- The best thing to do is to have a test drive of the cars back to back.

sanjay said:

Most of you guys own the diesel variant and that engine is a very popular one and it must be very good also since many other cars like swift also use it.Do you have any idea about how the 1.4l petrol engine is going to perform?Is it as reliable as the diesel engine that you guys have got?

I've heard that the first 2 gears in the Punto are short and it's in the third gear that it shows it's potential.Wont this be a problem in the city because I will have to shift the gears far too often?Anyways in this particular review http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ande-punto-test-drive-review.html#post1355241 (paragraph below images), they say the petrol engine in second gear has a range from 10 to 80 kph :!:

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Maybe Punto owners with 1.3 diesel are in majority here but I think there are many Linea 1.4 petrol owners here. Linea 1.4 and Punto 1.4 have the same engine.

Punto's 2nd gear may have a range of 10-80 but you will never take it beyond 30-40kmph in 2nd gear. No one likes to treat a car so badly, revving it and taking it to 70-80kmph in 2nd gear.
Be assured that you will be uncomfortable driving these heavy cars for the first time (polo, punto) if you are used to light weight Maruti cars like me.
You get used to the gearing easily within a week.
Just test drive both the cars but do not think to much about small variation here and there. One gets adapted to the car with time.
Yes, you have to shift more gears in a petrol car as compared to diesel. A petrol car has peak torque at somewhat 4500rpm, whereas a diesel car has peak torque at just about 1500-2000rpm.

Ravi said:

There are lots of 1.4L fire engine owners on the forum, do spend some time and read their reviews here (viewforum.php?f=48).
Fire Engines are equally reliable as MJD. No major issues has been reported as yet on Fire engines.

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There have been a lot of reported small small issues with interior plastics of Punto/Linea initially because Punto/Linea was Rs40,000/- cheaper when launched in 2009. So they had used average plastic material during that time. With time, Fiat improved the plastics by the beginning of 2010.
If you look at recent 2010 models, you will hardly find those issues now.
Touchwood, there has been no reported issue with the FIRE engine ever.

If you look back at the first page of the thread (compare Polo Trendline vs Comfortline) at the other forum that we were discussing, you will find the links to some threads.

There have been a lot of reported small small issues with interior plastics of Punto/Linea initially because Punto/Linea was Rs40,000/- cheaper when launched in 2009. So they had used average plastic material during that time. With time, Fiat improved the plastics by the beginning of 2010.

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I have June 2009 model Punto and except rear parcel tray hook is broken, I never had any plastic problem at-least.

Punto Emotion 1.4 is a very go choice since it drives very well, ride and handling are better than all the cars in its segment and it is rock solid unlike tinny Marutis. I have seen cows smashing Marutis and Hyundais by just coming in their way whereas a Fiat may seem untouched after a crash with a cow. Soon you will also have a CNG option on Puntos which will make an even more attractive option.

I have June 2009 model Punto and except rear parcel tray hook is broken, I never had any plastic problem at-least.

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Yes Mr Ravi, and neither did any of the Punto owner I talked to a few months back (most of them were 2009 Punto owners). In fact, it was a 2009 Electric Blue Punto that forced me to recommend it to my family instead of a white/blue i20 1.2 which I found out now has steering rattles and incompetent AC (Hyundai has asked i20 owners to stop writing about it on various forums).

My text was based on the discussions at some other forums. There was a thread in which the thread starter talked about some upgrades to the interiors of Punto. e.g. new driver's seat height assembly, chrome bits falling, door beading getting loose etc. Some of them used to say that the plastic levers might fall or something like that in that thread.

But I have never seen any owner complain about it so I thought maybe earlier editions had this problem.

whooah.That was a long post paddle.But who was mclaren1885?I just saw the other members quoting but his posts are seen nowhere.Was he a nightmare of fiat fans :mrgreen: ?

I'm still a little worried about the gearbox though when you people say that it's ok,just a matter of getting used to it etc.What about the fuel efficiency of this petrol engine?I have heard that the steering rattle issues and AC issues in the i20 are now solved is that true?